


A Decade of Sorrow, a Decade of Grief

by the_impatient_panda



Series: There and Back Again: A Defiance Tale [1]
Category: Defiance (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, Outer Space, Post-Canon, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25423573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_impatient_panda/pseuds/the_impatient_panda
Summary: Being shot into space on a ship full of sleeping Omec was only the beginning. Nolan and Doc only have each other and a monumentally important task ahead of them if they ever want to have any chance of returning home again.What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Joshua Nolan/Amanda Rosewater, Meh Yewll & Joshua Nolan, Meh Yewll/Amanda Rosewater
Series: There and Back Again: A Defiance Tale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859401
Kudos: 1





	A Decade of Sorrow, a Decade of Grief

Their first priority, upon steering the ship away from Earth and guiding it along its uncharted course, was to patch Meh up.

“If I get you to where you need to go, can you do what needs doing?” Nolan asked as he helped Meh unplug herself from the main computer.

“Yes. Probably.” She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. Neither mentioned the obscene amount of silver blood pooled around her feet. “Back that way...ah!”

“Sorry,” he grunted, having just picked her up. “But I think we’re in a rush.”

“We are,” she agreed, through gritted teeth. 

Neither said anything as he jogged down the enormous halls, the sentient computer directing them along their route. 

What passed for a medical bay was surprisingly simple. The beds were curved, like shallow pools. Nolan lay his burden in one, and asked, “What next.”

“Stand back.”

The indogene’s fingers clumsily pushed at buttons he couldn’t see, and soon the pool was filling with a familiar looking silver-grey liquid. 

“Protoplasma,” Nolan said after a moment.

“Very good, dunce,” the Doctor muttered through gritted teeth. “Now go away for awhile.”

“And do what?”

“Something other than stare at me like I’m dying.” A gasp escapes.

“It hurts, doesn’t it.”

“No, it feels good actually. Kind of like a warm bath.”

“...I’m staying.”

“Pow shtako pink-skin. Leave or-” Cut off in another gasp.

He took her hand. “Just squeeze, alright. If it hurts, just squeeze.”

Nolan didn’t realize how much strength indogene’s had. He still stayed and held her hand as the protoplasma filled her wounds and healed her body.

Some hours later, Meh woke in a bed that stank of Omec. She sat up slowly, weak but whole and with only a brief echo of pain to remind her of the agony of hours before. 

The computer answered her inquiries, and she found Nolan seated in the Captain’s seat rocketing the ship to some unknown origin in space. 

“How long?” she asked when he caught sight of her.

“Not sure,” he admitted with a shrug. “My watch quit working when we boarded the ship. I don’t know why.”

“Probably the magnetic fields. I’ll take a look at it later.”

“Yeah, we definitely have bigger problems first.”

“Like?”

“Like what the hell I’m supposed to eat.”

“Actually, that’s not our first problem.”

“And what is?”

“How I’m going to control the computer without being hooked up to it.”

Sentient ships were the only way one could travel interstellar distances effectively. It was impractical to feed, provide air, and dispose of the waste of large amounts of people on a day to day basis when they could simply sleep through the process. Thus, the ship needed to be capable of carrying out a large part of its upkeep and maintenance without much assistance from its occupants. It also made having the ship taken over by outside forces extremely difficult. Meh was only able to do so because she was an indogene, one of those created by the Omec to serve them. But she had only managed to convince the ship that she was meant to be there, to help. Not to control. 

The solution was not pretty or convenient. 

“You’re sure this is our best bet?” Nolan asked as he helped her patch together the wireless receiver.

“Yes,” she replied dully. “For now.”

“It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”

The doctor didn’t answer.

“Ok. How long will you be able to manage the connection?”

“It depends on how quickly I lose blood.” 

“I’ll try to be gentle.”

“Thank you.”

The plug was inserted into the back of her neck, connected to a series of wires and consoles packed into a backpack. The line was long enough that she could let the bag rest on the floor when seated in a chair, or even allow Nolan to carry it for her. And with it, she should be able to control the ship. 

For once, their crazy patched-together scheme worked on the first try.

“How bad is the bleeding?” Meh asked as she sat there, breathing through the pain in her neck. 

“Slow,” Nolan said, wiping away at it gently. “But steady.”

“Then we’ll seal it.”

“You’re sure?” he asked even as he lifted the canister. “It’ll make the plug harder to remove.”

He didn’t add and more painful. She already knew that part. 

“Hopefully, it's just this one time,” she replied faintly. “If the bleeding slows, I think I can keep this up for a week, maybe more. And for an indogene, that’s practically an eternity. I should be able to manage what needs managing in that time. But only if we slow the bleeding.”

“Alright.”

The sealant filled the space between the plug and her skin, slowing the seepage to a mere trickle, then a slow drip.

“Good,” Meh said once Nolan gave her the all-clear. “Then let’s get started. 

They began with providing their necessities. After glancing over the cavernous living spaces, they decided to share.

“Oh, thank god,” Nolan sighed when she told him her decision.

“This isn’t a booty call,” Meh informed in darkly.

“No,” he said quickly. “I just...don’t think I could sleep here alone.”

“I know what you mean.” Glancing around carefully, as moving too much is very painful. “We may be able to rig something else smaller later, but for now this will do.” Nolan watched as Meh dispatched drones to clean the linens and rid the rooms of the stench of Omec. The facilities were examined and declared ‘adequate’ once she explained them to Nolan. 

“We should have gotten you cleaned up before letting you attach yourself back into the system,” Nolan said, eyeing the greying streaks that marred her suit and skin. 

“Well, it's not like there’s anyone important around,” she replied flatly. “Besides, given how poor human senses are I doubt you’ll notice the smell for at least another two or three days.”

“Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome. Could be worse. I can smell me, and I’ll have to put up with it for at least a week.”

Next, came food and water. The omec drank something a little different than Earth water, but it was not difficult for the doctor to tweak one of the filter’s with Nolan’s help and a few drones. It was the only place on the ship they could get water for the time being, but it would do. 

Food was...a little more complicated.

“But how can there be meat,” Nolan said, poking at the oddly blueish lump on his plate. “This isn’t...indogene meat, is it? Or castithan?”

“No, its not any of those,” Meh said irritably, eating her own with the practice of one used to not enjoying their food. “It’s just...meat, ok?”

“I have to know where it comes from.”

“It’s not going to make it any easier to eat, trust me.”

“Just tell me!”

The doctor sighed, and set her plate aside. She was, when curbing her wit, an excellent teacher. The protoplasm, she explained, could be grown from donor cells. That could then be formed into anything made of proteins.

“I tried to make something close to pow,” she explained as she poked at hers disconsolately. “But it will probably take a lot of guesswork to get something anywhere close to food we’re used to.”

“Humans can’t just eat meat,” Nolan said as he set he aside with a sigh. “Our bodies aren’t meant to do that.”

“I know, but I can’t access the systems that might allow us to grow something else yet,” Meh shrugged. “I can make a supplement for both of us, for now. Hopefully, it won’t take too long to fix it up. Until then...”

“Until then its fake pow with no salt.”

“Eat it. You need to.”

“I know.” 

She was right, knowing didn’t make it any easier. But Nolan wasn’t about to tell her she was right (again) and shoveled it down like a good soldier. It wasn’t the first time he’d eaten something he’d rather no know too much about. And it wasn’t the worst think he’d choked down, either.

With the most basic of requirements met, and the ship on a safe course, they laid down to sleep. 

The nest-like bed was far to large for even two of them, but relatively well-padded with a mountain of sheets and blankets at their disposal.

“Thank you for going along with my daughter’s mad scheme.”

“Thank you for not leaving me stuck with her. I would definitely have killed her by now.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Jury is still out. But if I keep hearing you singing in the background, your odds do not look good.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

They could have slept on opposite sides of the nest. Instead, they slept nearly touching. Neither mentioned it, but it was still a comfort to wake in the near-darkness and hear someone else breathing in the silence of space.

For that first week, there was little time for idle talk. When awake, Doctor Yewll carefully reprogrammed the ship in small steps. Nolan was given armbands to wear that gave him minor control of drones, and allowed him to remain in constant contact with his companion as they worked. His job was the physical one, of course. Manually rerouting switches and repairing a few small problems so that Meh could do her job. 

Eight days in, it was time to remove the plug for the first time. 

“I’m sorry,” Nolan said as he paused with his hand on the thick cord.

“Just do it,” she replied faintly, lying in the protoplasma pool bed in the medical bay. 

The blanket that kept her from biting off her tongue did nothing for her screams. 

The ex-soldier was not given to fits of nausea, there was too much death in war to leave one with a weak stomach for long. But the chunks of skin and flesh that stuck to the plug from the sealant nearly did him in. 

The screams did not lessen as he lowered her into the grey goo, and as before he held her hand. 

This time when Meh woke, it was in their shared sleeping space. Nolan sat beside her, studying an interface tablet Meh had rigged to read in Voltan instead of Omec. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked as she sat up, gingerly touching the sore spot at the back of her skull. 

“Less like I’m dying,” she replied mildly. “Shouldn’t you be driving this giant tub?”

“I am,” he replied showing her the interface tablet. “We’re cruising for now. I do like driving from the Captain’s chair better, but I didn’t want to leave you alone in case there was a problem.”

“No problem some food and sleep can’t solve,” Meh said as she tried to stand. Nolan caught her when her legs buckled from underneath her weight, and helped her sit back down.

“I’ll get the food,” he said as he handed her a blanket. “You stay here.”

The doctor just nodded. 

“So,” he said once they were resettled with their oddly-colored synthetic meat and some water. “What’s next?”

“A better solution for my neck port. And then fruits and vegetables,” she replied around her food. “If we’re lucky, there will be a seed bank somewhere on the ship. It won’t be what you’re used to, but most of it should be edible.”

“I thought Omec were predators.”

“Yes, but they liked experimenting. Especially with their food.” Looking down. 

“You must really hate being on this ship.”

“It’s no picnic, that’s for sure.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said you coddle your kid.”

“I know. I just can’t help it. She’s my kid.”

“Yeah. I need to sleep for awhile.”

“Is that you trying to politely tell me to leave?”

“...no, it isn’t.”

“I’ll stay until you’re asleep.”

“...thanks.”

“You don’t seem to mind my coddling ways.”

“Shut up.”

Meh woke up, and took the next three days to work on her two projects. Nolan drove the ship, and when he occasionaly found her asleep at her workbench carried the doctor back to bed for some rest. Neither mentioned it later. 

This time, however, their luck wasn’t as good. 

“It’s not working,” Meh groaned as she sagged in her seat. “Pull it, pull it out-!”

The conclusion: Nolan tells her to take more time to work on the device. They don’t need further control of the ship for another week or so, and he’s in no hurry for her to die. So that’s what she does. When they succeed, finally, they decide to take well-earned break. One of Meh’s side projects has been cataloging the cargo bays, and she pulls out some Votan old-world alcohol.

About halfway through the bottle is when the secrets began to flow. 

“I love Amanda.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I mean...in love with her, Doc.”

“What did you think I meant?” Blank look. “What?” Annoyed.

“Well, she’s a human, for one thing. And a she.”

“I prefer shes.”

“And humans?”

“Let’s just say: she made me curious.”

“Well, I can’t say I blame you...does she know?”

“Of course not. It doesn’t fit my image of the lonely, brooding doctor. That, and we were never exactly on the same side.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because...what does it matter?” She motions around them. “We’re never getting off this ship. Or if we do, its a one-way ticket to somewhere else with no way to return.”

“Maybe.” Shrugging.

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Let’s just say...I’m not convinced there’s no hope yet.” Clapping her on the shoulder. “We’ve only been on this ship a couple of weeks, and I’ve seen things I never could have dreamed of. And between your smarts and my stubborn, I really don’t see how we can fail.”

“Fail at what?”

“Anything.”

“Oh, humble aren’t we?”

“I’ll make you a bet.”

“This should be good.”

“If we make it back-”

“Alive and in one piece or just as cosmic radiation and dust from you driving us into a supernova?”

“That was an accident, and we didn’t actually crash. Besides, it was your idea- anyways. If we get back, alive and in one piece...I’ll leave Amanda alone for the first two weeks to give you a head-start.”

“A head-start to what?”

“To win her heart.”

“Be serious.”

“I am!”

“I fail to see how this is a bet. I win if the thing I don’t think is going to happen, happens.”

“I’m trying to give you incentive to help me get back home. Call it a deal instead of a bet, and right now, I think a clear shot at a woman you’re in love with is a pretty good prize.”

“First of all, it will be years before we manage to return. We’ll be lucky if it takes less than the rest of our lives, assuming we make it at all! She’s not going to wait that long.”

“Maybe not. But if we get back, and she’s still free, I’ll keep that promise. Two weeks.”

“And what if she’s throwing herself at you?”

“...if she shows up in my bed naked, I probably will cave. But I promise not to show up in hers, or to try and spend time with her alone. I’ll...tell her I need to catch up with Irisa first. She’ll understand, I think.” Stepping closer. “C’mon, you know you want to take it. Her blonde hair in that braid over one shoulder. The way she orders everyone around. Her skinny ass that I think you happen to like given how often I’ve heard you mention it wiggling when she walks-”

“Alright!” Spinning away, arms crossed. “I accept. We’re...going home. Eventually. Whoo-hoo.”

“From you, that’s the spirit. So what’s our first step?”

“To going home?”

“Yeah.”

If Nolan though they were busy before, it was nothing compared to now. 

Inventory moved up the list of priorities. Probes, Meh explained, would be able to give them much more accurate results much further out of a possible habitable planet.

“We don’t have terraformers on this ship,” she reminded him as he helped repurpose missiles into probes. “So the planet has to be able to support them as it is. With no sentient life.”

“So far as we can tell.”

“Exactly. Which means scans and probes and lots of and lots of data.”

“Got it.”

Meh also began building a map of where they were in space, and how they got there.

“Our first week of flight went uncharted,” she sighed as she showed him what was built thus far. “I didn’t have enough control over key systems to do that. But...it still puts us within a week’s journey of Earth if we can retrace our steps later on.”

“Plus a huge energy burst that may or may not have been straight.”

“Yeah...trying not to think about that. That bit really threatens the probability of us returning back to Earth.”

“We’ll be fine. I’m a tracker.”

“We’re in space, you idiot.”

“I’ll still remember the way.”

“Ha, now I know you’ve lost it.”

Weeks flowed into months and flowed into the first year. 

Their habits were well established now. 

Meh rose first, lightly kicking her companion and saying, “I’m showering,” before going to do just that. The human male was just rolling himself awake when she exited, going to clean up himself before sitting down to their substantially better breakfast. 

The colors still weren’t quite right, but a sort of egg and cheese omelet with a sweet, green fruit and a sort of spongy, savory bread was still a welcome way to fill one’s stomach. The doctor sat patiently as Nolan swapped out the batteries on her neck port, the array that kept her connected to the ship hanging down her shoulders comfortably. Considerably lighter than its predecessors, it was still not quite what the indogene hoped to achieve someday. Given their current objectives, she figured she had plenty of time. 

The ship was now nearly under her entire control. There were still a few areas giving her fits, but they were mostly the Omec’s private logs and something that she suspected contained the DNA samples of some of the noble family lines that may not have made it onboard. But none of that she considered important enough to pursue at this time.

“All set,” Nolan said as he clicked the last one into place, patting her on the shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said brusquely, adjusting the collar of her tunic and setting off about her chores. 

The daily inspection of the ship was as much to keep them both physically active as it was to check the ship. The drones could do nearly as well on their own, but as they discovered early on an inactive Nolan was a restless Nolan, which quickly became a thorn in the Doc’s side. And that led to...unpleasantness. 

The one thing she had learned to tolerate was the music. The pact was fairly simple: seven days on, seven days off. Yewll could technically turn it off wherever she was if her companion wasn’t about, but if forced she would admit that not all of Nolan’s music was terrible in taste and some of it she may even admit to having hummed along to when too deep in her cups. Besides, it gave her something to complain about that he knew not to take seriously. She just liked to complain. 

Doctor Yewll, in the way of Endogene’s, did not eat lunch. Her digestive tract was hyper-efficient, and sometimes she skipped dinner as well. Her work-space for her many current projects was in the room next to their shared quarters. There were ongoing experiments with the plants that provided much of their food, and the constant search of finding a better way to interface with the computer without chaining herself to it. There were the explorations of possibly genetically altering the Omec to be less of a predator (though, first she had to study the Omec physiology and that was proving more difficult than she had imagined). 

Nolan did eat lunch, but it was usually on the go. He walked most of the ship, used his personal drones to hit his checklist of things to do, and spent a little time driving the Harvester himself. It wasn’t required, but he did enjoy the feel of an entire space craft leaping at his every touch. 

Dinner, if Yewll ate, was together back in their shared quarters. They had long ago exhausted many topics of speech, so it was always novel when one of them thought of something that had never been brought up before.

“Something’s been bothering me,” Nolan said as he sat across from her at their table. It was Omec style, so they were seated on the floor, but the cushions were comfortable and they were testing a new sort of wine Meh created from a sort of grape-like fruit. It was neither sweet nor sour, but instead surprisingly tasteless with merely a hint of mint. It also packed a surprising punch. 

“Don’t think so hard, you’ll overheat your brain,” Meh quipped in a familiar fashion.

“Ha ha. So, this is my question: if it took you guys 5,000 years to reach earth from your worlds, and the Omec left about the same time, how did they catch up with you in less than 50 years? I mean...we’ve traveled farther than my brain can even contain in this last year, trying to find another habitable planet, and the Omec were just wandering around randomly with no direction. It should have been impossible for them to find you....if you were 5,000 years of fast-than-light travel away.”

“And what does your puny human brain conclude with that information?”

“That it didn’t take you 5,000 years to reach Earth.”

“Ding ding ding, give the lad a prize!”

“How long did it take?”

“A little over 50 years. 5,000 years is roughly how long we knew something was wrong with our sun, and tried to fix it.”

“So what happened?”

“According to the records, which all Indogene children learn from, those living on ______ came up with a few possibilities. There were scientific experiments that they thought might jump-start the star, so to speak. Give it new life and by extension, preserve the life on our planet.”

“It didn’t work.”

“It was very promising, though, and that is where the majority of the planet chose to spent its resources for the first...several centuries, at least. A small few, however, began to seek out planets to flee to. To build the Arks. The problem was time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well...think of it this way. Winters in Defiance suck. Everyone knows this, but not everyone prepares for it. Which is ridiculous, because you know that even if the middle of summer its hotter than a plate of pow vindaloo its going to freeze again. But people still don’t fortify their homes. They don’t get proper clothes or fix their heaters. Not until they have to, or need to. And sometimes its too late. I have far more cases of frostbite and exposure injuries each year than I should, but when its far away...”

“People get lazy. And when they realize the danger is upon them, its too late. I’ve always wondered about that. How you couldn’t have seen it coming for so long, that you were able to save so few.”

“We did see it coming. We just thought we could stop it.”

“And you say humans are prideful.”

“It takes one to know one.”

“True.”

“It wasn’t until nearly 4,000 years had passed that people began to realize the truth: we could not save our suns. We needed to flee. Work on the Arks began in earnest, but there was so much time lost. So many resources spent in fruitless labors. And some, like always, refused to believe the danger. To give it thought or credence. After all, they would be dead when the suns exploded, what did they care? It was their children’s problem, their children’s children’s problem. Best to leave it to them, then.”

“I’m sure their children thanked them for that.”

“I’m not sure. The Indogene were not among them. Our people were always few compared to the rest of the races, but we always worked towards...something. It's in our nature.”

“Like treason and espionage?”

“No, that we had to learn.”

“That’s actually comforting.”

“And in truth the five thousand years that the Votanis Collective and others like to tout is...probably not accurate. It was at least 4,500, perhaps more than 5,000. But faster than light travel makes time...a bit wibbly wobbly you might say.”

“You’ve watched Doctor Who?”

“Absorbing your culture was part of our training when we arrived.”

“It’s too bad there’s no madman in a blue box to show up and save us from this mess.”

“Short cuts rarely work out the way they’re supposed to.”

“That’s true. But this makes a lot more sense, now. 50 years or so to reach earth, and the Omec arriving....what, 40 some years after you?”

“Something like that.” Itching a the back of her neck.

“It’s bothering you again?”

“The skin keeps splitting around it. It's how dry it is in here. Great for Omec’s, less great for Indogenes.”

“C’mere.”

The arguments were months behind them now, and neither had the energy to continue them further. Meh scooted around, and faced her back towards her companion. Nolan fetched the gel and his container of fancy medical tools. Selecting the right one, he smeared the gel around the port, and used one of the tools to heal the skin that was cracked and peeling. 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The courtesy was less sarcastic and more heartfelt than before, but not entirely. After all, they both had an image to maintain. 

“Well, given what you’ve told me, I feel a bit better about finding the Omec a planet in my lifetime.”

“Nolan...the odds still aren’t great.”

“I know. I....know. But...I have hope.”

“Well, at least one of us does.”

“The deals still on, Doc. Two weeks.”

Glancing at him. “And what are you going to do if I win?”

“You mean us getting home or Amanda’s heart?”

“Either. Both.”

“I dunno. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

“I hate your optimism.”

“No you don’t.”

Despite their duties and projects, there were still hours upon hours with nothing to fill them. So Meh began to teach.

“I mean, it makes sense why I need to know more,” Nolan said as the doctor downloaded the files she wanted him to read. “But this seems a little excessive.”

“My life may depend on you being able to complete one of these complex medical procedures on me while I’m unavailable to help you,” Yewll had retorted, handing him the tablet interface. “Any questions.”

The ex-soldier sighed, but took the tablet. “No, I get it. And you’re right, I should know this.”

When Nolan did everything requested, though, he brought Meh a tablet of his own.

“What’s this?” she asked, taking (figure this out: something he wants her to learn. Self defense? Except it seems like the only people she had a hard time fighting against was the Omec. But she’s also not very strong or fast. Perhaps some training exercises, to help her work in sync with his better? This is more likely. They use the drones and low-powered weapons to work together, getting used to sensing what the other one is doing and working on their silent, short-hand communication skills. She enjoys it, and fiercely denies it. She is proud of her skills with a weapon.)

The other thing they used to fill the time was the Dream chamber. It was small, and cradled one like an egg. It also made dreams feel...real. (Finish out with rules and such.)

The first time Nolan’s new skills were put to the test, it was an accident. 

The shelf in the cargo bay gave way as Meh walked beneath it. The initial injuries were not fatal, but lying there unnoticed and unconscious for nearly three hours was. The fact that Nolan discovered her at all on the enormous ship was pure luck. 

The drones lifted the mangled metal, allowing him to slip her broken body from beneath. “Meh,” he called as he pulled her free and lifted her carefully. “Meh, c’mon woman. Open your eyes, sassy pants.”

It was a nickname she hated, and it garnered only a faint groan.

“Shtako.”

The computer responded to his yelled commands, but there was no quick way to the medical bay. His thudding boots echoed around the cavernous corridors as he sprinted as fast as he dared. Blood dripped behind him from limply dangling limbs. 

The protoplasma pool was already full when he arrived, and he carefully laid the unconscious Meh inside before pulling up the scanner’s screen. 

Information scrolled by, and his mind catalogued the injuries as he’d been taught. Her liver and one lung was transected by the weight of the shelf. Her innards were a mess. There were broken bones, lacerations...with trembling fingers, he began to work. 

Using the DNA file she had created over a year ago, he began to grow replacements for the organs that were damaged out of protoplasm. Done with panic clawing at the back of his brain, he had to try three times before he got the order right and it wasn’t until he noticed the red streaked across the screen that he realized he was bleeding too. A scratch on his hand and arm, probably from the broken shelves. 

“Shtako, shtako, shtako-! Don’t you dare die on me Meh,” he said as he scrambled to wipe it away and prepare for surgery. “I can do this, and so can you. So stay with me, alright?”

There was no response. 

The laser scalpel cut easily and cleanly through her white flesh, exposing equally pale organs beneath. The liver (which wasn’t technically what it was, but it looked like one to him so to hell with the name) was ready first, and he swapped the organ out with a slice, a switch, and a dab of protoplasma to hold it in place. The lung was a little more difficult, as there was a third lung connected as well. Those cuts he made more carefully, and attached the new one in what he hoped as the right order. More protoplasma was rubbed in place (could you use too much? He wasn’t sure) and he moved on to her guts. What they were supposed to look like and what they did look like was difficult to describe, except they obviously weren’t the same. The ex-soldier did his best, and in the end closed up his own friend for several thousand lightyears and hoped for the best. 

Doctor Yewll woke in the protoplasma pool, feel a little cold and very sore.

“Oh, shtako,” she mumbled through numb lips. “What..?”

“Easy,” Nolan said, sitting up and rubbing at his face. “I’m right here, you’re...it’s fine. You’re fine.”

“What happened?”

“A shelf broke. You were under it. It wasn’t good.”

“How bad?”

“Bad enough. You’ve got a new...the thing that looks like a liver. And a new lung.”

“Which one?” Nolan pointed on his own chest, and she nodded. “Right. Got it. Anything else?”

“Couple of broken bones, lots of cuts and bruises. The protoplasma took care of all that, though. The easy stuff.”

“Easy stuff....if we do make it back, I’m going to sorely miss this place. It's a doctor’s dream come true.” Her eyes are already drifting shut again. 

“Just rest, alright? It’ll be fine.”

Nolan got up, and started to clean up for the first time. The scanners, he thought, said everything was alright. Not that he could be sure but...he thought so. Hopefully. His blood clothes were exchanged for clean ones, as he prepared for the second time she woke up. If her skin was finished healing, she’d be able to clean up. Rest in their bed, which was probably more comfortable than that luke-warm goop. 

It wasn’t until he was putting away the tools that he realized he had grown three extra organs. It as a spare...liver thing, a portion of the guts that he still wasn’t sure didn’t need to be replaced, and a....something else. The tiny clump of cells wasn’t anything he recognized, but he wasn’t a doctor. Deciding that for the moment, he wasn’t going to decide what was worth keeping and what wasn’t, it was all placed in the stasis box and left for another time. 

Meh wakes, and takes some painkillers. He helps her back to their rooms, where she spends a few more days sleeping and eating. She finally gets up to bathe when he comments that ‘even his human nose can smell her now.’ He helps, and its entirely non-sexual. They are close, and there is trust between them. But no attraction. 

“You know, I was thinking,” Nolan said a few days later when the Doctor was finally awake more than asleep and able to sit up for her meals. “Maybe I should give you lessons in something else.”

“And what’s that? How to avoid collapsing shelves?”

“Ha, no. Although...I thought the drones were supposed to protect us.”

“They protect Omec, and we aren’t Omec.”

“Haven’t cracked that bit of coding yet?”

“I’m working on it.” Yawning. “So what do you think I need to learn, oh wise one?”

“How to woo a woman.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“I don’t need lessons, trust me.”

“Why not? You’re never with anyone at Defiance.”

“Doesn’t mean I never have been before that.”

“Oh, had a girlfriend back before the Arkfall, huh?”

“Try a wife.”

“What?”

“Yeah, shtako for brains. I was a married. For almost five years, actually.”

“You’re kidding.”

“About this I do not kid.”

“Well...where is she? And why aren’t you-?”

“She’s dead.”

“Oh. ...I’m sorry.” Clearing his throat. “It was war.”

“The war didn’t kill her. Or I guess I should say....humans didn’t kill her.”

“What happened?”

“She couldn’t take what we were doing anymore. Capturing humans, experimenting on them. Treating them like less than animals in the name of scientific exploration. I saw the signs, I just didn’t want to believe they were real. Then she killed herself.”

“What did you do?”

“I...left.”

“They just let you walk away?”

“The Arks had fallen and our infrastructure was crumbling around us. There was no one to stop me.”

“I see.”

It was strange, Meh mused as Nolan cleared their plates and let the drones cart them off for cleaning. Just over a year with no one else to talk to, and her walls were down. Of course, she still wasn’t convinced they would ever make it home, so what did it matter? Nothing, she supposed. Nothing at all.

“How did you end up at Defiance?”

“You aren’t going to like this story.”

“Meh, I think after all this time you should know: I might get pissed off, and I might wander off for a few hours because of it. But I’ll come back, because whoever you were before and whatever you did before doesn’t matter compared to who you are and what you do now.”

“That’s fair.” 

“Also because I don’t have a choice. I still can’t read Omec, and half the ship’s systems wouldn’t operate without you. So there’s that.”

“That’s also fair.” Clearing her throat. “I met Nicky, who was the first Mayor of Defiance, before Defiance was even a town. Now there was a woman who could smell shtako from a mile away.”

“You admired her?”

“Hard not to. She knew what she wanted, and what she needed to get what she wanted. And she was willing to do anything to get it.”

“What did she want?”

“To reclaim Earth for humans. She found me in Chicago while she was picking up supplies for the mining operation in Old Saint Louise. I was working in a tiny shithole of a clinic for people with no money. My penance, as it were. We talked, and she convinced me to follow her to the mining town. I don’t know how, but she saw that I hated my own kind more than I hated hers, and she used that to get what she needed. What she wanted.”

“Is this about the ship that was under the Arch?”

“Yes. I never personally searched for the ship while serving the Votan armies, but I remember the search. And I had records stored in my memory that she didn’t have access to.”

“You helped her find it.”

“For a time. Then I stopped.”

“Why?”

“You aren’t going to believe me.”

“...what?”

“Nicky went and found herself an assistant. This bright-eyed, blonde girl with a skinny ass and practically bursting with belief that the ridiculous notion Nicky had put forth of inclusiveness for all races would actually work. Nicky didn’t believe it. She just spouted it to get what she needed it. But Amanda believed it, and...she was right. Under Nicky’s leadership, she helped pass laws that made Defiance safer, made it more inclusive and more....open. I....started to believe too. To believe that we didn’t need to kill the humans to make the world safe for Votans or kill the Votans to make the world safe for humans. We could just...live together and ‘get along’.”

“I told Nicky I was out. She was pissed, of course, but the truth was we weren’t getting anywhere. Hadn’t in years. The tunnels under Defiance were a maze. A labyrinth. And given the size of the town, and how instrumental I had become in keeping things moving smoothly, she had no choice but to drop it. It was too dangerous to kill me, and...I think she hoped I might be useful again in the future. Also, I’m a damned good Doctor, and those aren’t easy to find anymore. So we just warily agreed to live and let live.”

“So you weren’t a part of the Volge attack.”

“Oh, hell no. I’m smarter than that. And she blamed it on Birch after the fact, but I’m fairly sure she was lying. She was good at that.” Pausing. “...she wasn’t human, Josh.”

“What?”

“She was an Indogene imposter. Like the astronaut you found in the Arkfall wreckage.”

“Bullshtako.”

“No, really. I...helped her maintain her disguise. When she realized I had no interest in helping further her cause, she found someone else to take that job, but by then she had the scrip to buy just about anything she wanted.” Pausing. “And its why she killed ________, Kenya’s first husband. Not that I felt that bad about it, he was a terrible husband, but...there it is. He walked in on her examination, and saw the truth for himself. She couldn’t risk him telling anyone else.”

“How did she live longer than that imposter of Kenya did?”

“Because Nicky wasn’t a...real person. She didn’t replace someone else, so her mind was still her own. Its the laying over of memories on the brain that shortens the lifespan of the individual. It also depends on how its done. That astronaut of yours, who I suspect isn’t actually dead or at least didn’t die in the mines like Rafe said...his was probably done in peak lab conditions. With likely the best tools, resources and an entire team of neurospecialists to see it was done right. That sort of work could take years or even decades to degrade. Kenya’s was...quick and sloppy. And not even taken from the original human, but based on memories from Amanda’s brain, pulled through a half-dead _______. Patched together from the start, that poor Indogene never had a chance.”

“Yeah, I can see that. But the Mayor...”

“Just the skin and hair was a facade. And since we don’t catch diseases, or at least almost never, the only thing she had to worry about was something outside of her control ending her life prematurely.”

“The respirator?”

“An affectation. Giving her ailments made her seem more...real. It also made it easier for her to retire. The smoking still pissed me off, there’s plenty of ways to recreationally enjoy something even as primitive as nicotine without damaging the body you’ve got, but some people just insist on being stupid.” 

“Well, speaking of people being stupid...I think I screwed some things up in the medical bay when you were injured. Do you think you’re feeling up to a walk?”

“If not you can carry me. I’m dying to get out of this room.”

“Let’s not make death jokes yet, Ok? It's too soon after I carried your almost-dead ass halfway across this ship dripping blood everywhere.”

“Wuss.”

“Notice I didn’t call your ass skinny. You definitely weight more than Amanda does.”

“That’s the metal in my frame.”

“You have metal...?”

“I’ll tell you about it another time. Let’s go fix your mess first.”

“Yeah, ok.”

Nolan had made an attempt to clean the medical bay, but the Indogene’s practice eyes still picked up traces of what was likely her blood and viscera about the room. A silent command to the drones took care of it, and she inspected the bed. Again, Nolan had done his best, but she supposed she should simply be grateful his best had been enough to save her life and not harp over the details. A great deal of protoplasma had been wasted, and while they had plenty to spare they also had perhaps decades more before they reached a safe place. It was too late for it to even be cleaned and repurposed, the proteins with breaking down and nearly rotten. The drones were given another command, and Nolan watched as it was disposed off. 

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” she said, trying to be less caustic than usual. “Wasteful, yes, but...still not bad.”

“That’s not all,” the ex-sheriff admitted as he opened the stasis box. “You needed new organs, and I was in a hurry so I think I ordered a few extra. Can we save them, or....?”

Meh inspected the first growth pod, and shrugged. “It’s a...what you call a ‘liver’, and its perfectly fine. I don’t foresee needing another, but this can stay in stasis for a few years before its potential use becomes questionable. And since we’re not hurting for space, its fine.”

“So I didn’t....ruin things somehow?”

“Not yet,” Meh said, unwilling to be completely kind as she picked up the next pod. “Hm...a stomach?”

“Your insides were pretty messed up. I wasn’t sure...”

“Protoplasma took care of those. But again, we can hang on to this for awhile. And for the last one...” Meh picked up the pod, examined it, and frowned.

“What?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted as she studied the now oval-shaped sack in the pod that, much to both their surprise, twitched as Meh turned it gently in her hands. 

“Oh, shtako.”

“What?”

“I...I need to run some tests.”

“What did I do?”

“...you might have cloned me, Josh.”

“You mean its a baby?”

“I mean its a clone. That’s not the same thing.”

“...how is that not the same thing? It...she can still be a clone and a baby.”

“If its a clone, I have to get rid of it.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t clone ourselves, alright? Its...an indogene thing.”

“So you’ll modify yourself with technology and even graft new limbs or eyes or organs into your body, but you won’t make a copy? That doesn’t make sense. We could use the help, Meh, even if it was an accident, if this trip is half as long as you think its going to be. Hell, with as much protoplasma as we have we could probably make a dozen of you! Think of what we could accomplish then!”

Meh set down the pod, and slapped him.

“Don’t ever say that again,” she growled into the silence that followed. “Don’t ever, ever say that. My people were made by the Omec. Created by them to be slaves and food. To be toys. They would find a favorite kind, a favorite plaything and then copy him or her over and over and over and over until the original couldn’t even remember they were the original anymore. Indogene do not clone, because it cheapens the value of the individual. It makes you expendable, and less than a person. So if this is a clone, I’m going to kill it. Kindly. Humanely. We’ll have a ceremony if it makes you feel better, but I cannot keep a clone of myself. Even if we do need the help.”

The tirade shocks Nolan, but he starts to see her point even as the stinging dies from his cheek. “...yeah, alright.” Looking away from the pod. “I’m sorry, I...didn’t think.”

“It’s...it’s not alright, but it was an accident. Making the clone, at least.”

“How will you find out if its a clone?”

“Run some tests. Probably take a sample to be sure.”

“Will that...harm it?”

“No, Nolan.” Quietly. “The...whatever it is will be safe until I find out what it is.”

“...thank you.”

“Can you go away for awhile?”

“Can you stand that long?”

“I can do the tests at the chair. Come back in an hour.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Fine.”

Nolan comes back to find Doc Yewll leaning back in her seat, eyes closed and arms crossed.

“Doc?”

“Congratulations, Josh. We're pregnant.” Deadpan.

“Uh...what?”

“The baby is....ours. You accidentally contaminated one of the samples, and while the computer is wicked smart, it can’t make an organ from two types of DNA without first having an entire copy of what those two combined looks like. So it overrode your order, and instead did just that.”

“Ok,” Nolan said after a long pause, having a hard time processing the words he was hearing. “So...what do we do?”

“I...don’t know.” 

The ex-lawkeeper chuckled, and his indogene companion looked up with a scowl. 

“I fail to see what is funny about this.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been told I’m a father,” he explained as he tried to contain his mirth. “But is the first time I’ve believed a girl when she says it, and I haven’t even slept with you! I just, I can’t-” Taking a deep breath, he stood over the pod and its switching, sack-like contents. “Hi, little guy. Or girl?” Glancing at Meh. 

“Nolan, don’t. There’s things we need to discuss first.”

“Boy or girl?”

“...girl.”

“A daughter.” Looking down, sniffing a bit. “Wow.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Get...attached. Emotionally involved.”

“Why not? You said it was my child. Our child.”

“Yes, I did. It...” 

“She.” Insistent.

“She.” Taking a deep breath, forcing herself to go on, “She is...our child. But there’s still things to discuss.”

“Like what? We’ll figure out the co-parenting thing as we go, Meh. I’m not worried about it. We’re having a baby!”

“Nolan...Joshua. Joshua, I don’t know if this baby can survive.”

“Why not?”

“An indogene/human hybrid has never been attempted before. Hell, a chupping indogene/anything hybrid has never been attempted before.”

“Why not.”

“You're a a trigger happy asshole, but you keep your word. So I'm going to tell you something, but you have to swear to never discuss it with anyone else. It's an indogene thing that we don't discuss with outsiders.”

“I swear.”

“Indogene do not procreate like humans or any other Votan. We were created sterile. Unable to bear young.”

“Oh.”

“Which is why when we choose to have children the genders of the parents isn't important.”

“They're all test tube babies.”

“To put it crudely, yes.” Sharply. 

“So you design your children?”

“No, and to do so is considered abhorrent. The body can be changed after birth, but the creation itself is random. Back on our home world generic protoplasma like that on this ship would be used, and the DNA of both parents added. The computer would then randomly take part of each parents’ DNA, and combine it to make the new life. Wealthy endogenes may modify their body to actually carry the child as it grew, but most made do with a pod similar to this, monitored carefully at home.”

“I see.”

“On Earth the process has been more difficult. Both parents and sometimes friends or family members contribute to the protoplasma collection. There must be a sufficient amount, or the child will not thrive. To be asked to contribute is considered an honor. And sometimes when an elder can go no further, they donate their body to further the propagation of our species. If they are of a decent size and health, two or three or sometimes four new lives begin this way. The...babies born to Indogene parents are always wanted. Always intentional. It is impossible for there to be accidents with the limited equipment and resources on the planet.”

“And no one outside of the Indogene know about this among the Votan Collective?”

“The matter of how indogene children are made is a highly-prized secret. The trait of curiosity is mainly for your humans. We, as in the Votanis Collective, were all perfectly content to let each other keep our secrets. Irathian, Castithan, and Indogene, we had separate cities and communities. You could go visit the other areas, most of them, but why bother? Unless you had business there, there was no reason to be there.”

“See, that’s funny, because I would say Indogene’s are some of the most curious people I know.”

“But not in the way you humans are. I want to learn about Omec’s physiology, but only so I can be sure I’m monitoring them properly for however long it is that we’re traveling through space together. And possibly to try and change them to make them less of a threat to us, but I know you hate that idea so I’m only half-heartedly pursuing it as a line of inquiry. You, however, you look at the art and the tapestries and wonder what its about. You study the statues and the way the ship’s laid out and make inferences about the Omec based upon that. You wonder about what it was like living and sleeping together in this massive nest. Was it just the parents and the children or the grandparents and the aunts and uncles too? Did they have aunts and uncles? How do family dynamics work? You ask questions about things that don’t matter and aren’t important simply because you want to know.”

“I guess so.”

“And while we’re having this conversation, you’ve probably already thought of several questions connected to this topic. Things that you’re guessing at or inferencing from what I’ve told you about my people.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Beyond this conversation, I don’t want to discuss this again, or answer your questions. My people and our beliefs are not here to satisfy your curiosity. I’m only telling you as a courtesy because I cannot in good conscious simply destroy the fetus out of hand. It is not the Indogene way.”

“Do you want the baby.”

“That isn’t important.”

“I think its the most important.”

“The child may be physically or mentally deficient as a result of her mixed heritage, and there is no way of knowing what that may be. She may die before reaching adulthood, or as a child, or an infant. She may not even survive to be born.”

“That’s the risk with every child, Meh.”

“We’re alone in space on a ship full of predators. If the Omec escaped their sleep chambers, she would not be able to protect herself for many years.”

“Oh, I’ll teach her how to shoot and you’ll teach her how to run. I think she’ll be alright.”

“How about the fact that we may be stuck on this ship for the rest of our natural lives? What kind of life is that for a child? Is it fair to ask her to continue on alone, with no way to get home? Any home?”

“I already told you, we’re going home someday. She will too.”

“There’s a chance that if we do this and bring her back with us that there will be trouble.”

“From the other Indogene’s?”

“Yes. Or with the Votanis Collective. Or hell, even Amanda may get pissed about this.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But we’ll find a way, Meh. For our child, we’ll figure something out. What I want to know is what the hell you’re so chupping afraid of.”

“Who said I’m afraid?” 

“You have never been shy about giving your opinion, so why can’t you give me one now? If you didn’t want the baby, you would have said so immediately. Kindly, maybe, to spare my feelings because you do care no matter how much you like to hide it, but you would still come right out with it. So, you want the baby. But you keep giving me reason after reason to get rid of the baby. To let it go and move on. You want me to convince you that this is a bad idea, so I can convince you in turn. So what exactly are you afraid of?”

“Everything!” Standing up, and having to grab the table as the room twirls around her. Noland catches her arm, and helps her stand. “We’re in space, alone, on a ship full of enemies! And if that weren’t bad enough, I basically ran a human chop shop for the Votanis Collective for more than five years. I treated your people like chattel, and now my child is half human! How can I hope to be good enough to raise her? To be loved by her?”

“Preaching to the choir on this one, sweetheart,” Nolan interrupted gently, pulling her to a tight hug. The doctor was stiff in his arms, but allowed him to hold her nonetheless. “I’m the butcher of Yosemite, remember? I’ve killed Indogenes, Castithans, Irathians, hell humans too. I’ve got just as much blood on my hands as you do, if not more. But even though I screwed up...I still managed with Irisa. She is the best thing I’ve done with my life. She’s the reason I’m here right now, on this chupping ship. And this kiddo is gonna be the same. We’re going to make mistakes. Fight. Scream. Maybe wonder how things got so wrong sometimes. But we’ll manage, and its going to be incredible.”

“I still hate your optimism.”

“No you don’t.” Putting his chin on her head. 

“We are not a couple.”

“No.”

“And we’re equally responsible for the kid.”

“Yes.”

Taking a step back, and leaning on the counter to support herself. “Well, we’re having a girl, Nolan. Thought of any baby names?”

“Rebecca.” Not even a hesitation.

“Why that?”

“It’s my sister’s name.” The doc stays quiet. “What?”

“We don’t name our children after family members, ever. Its part of the whole ‘being your own individual thing’. We also don’t give them long names until they’ve earned them. One syllable, maybe two.”

“Then...Becca? Becca Yewll-Nolan. Or Nolan-Yewll.”

“Yewll isn’t a family name. Its my earned name.”

“Oh. So Becca Nolan.”

“We’ll discuss the Nolan part later. For now, Becca will suffice.”

“Becca it is.” Reaching over to gently touch the pod. “Hey Becca. I’m your dad.”

“She’s can’t hear you, shtako for brains.”

“I know that.” Gently taking his hand back. “I just...wanted to say hi.”

“Humans.” Rolling her eyes. “I’ll get it hooked up to a monitor and into an incubator.”

“How long until she’s...done?”

“You mean born?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not sure. Indogene young mature enough for birth in about three Earth months. Your babies incubate for closer to nine. It could be either extreme, or anything in between.”

“Great.” Sarcastic, but he’s still smiling. “You’re gonna be a good mom.”

“How do you know that?” Fussing over wires and screens.

“Because I do.” 

“Well, at least one of us thinks so.”

“Is there a way for me to take a picture of this?”

“Of what?”

“Of Becca, in her little pod! You know, for later.”

“What?”

“Humans like recording things. We...take pictures of important events.”

“Did you take pictures of Irisa growing up?”

“No, but that was different. We were in hiding and on the run.”

“...I’ll see if I can find something later.”

“Thank you.” Dropping a kiss on her cheek. 

“Do not kiss me!”

“Ok, ok.” Chuckling. “I’m just happy. I’m havin’ a kid!”

“Go take your happiness somewhere else, then, I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Alright, alright...see you, squirt. Be nice to mom.”

Doc Yewll rolls her eyes, but once she’s certain Nolan is gone she leans over and murmurs, “He’s just a highly developed ape, but...he’s got a good heart. You could do worse for a parent, that’s for sure.”

Pale fingers ghosted over the pod, then the indogene stood to leave. It was just as her legs collapsed under her weight that she remembered she wasn’t fully healed yet. 

Shtako. 

“Nolan,” she said tapping their communicators as she struggled back up to a sitting position.

Yeah?

“...I need help back to the bed.”

Be right there, sassy pants.

She told herself that she simply didn’t have the energy to reply. Her half-smile had nothing to do with it. 

Three months in, Yewll was seriously re-considering things.

“I was under the obviously false impression that you knew something about human babies,” she snapped as Nolan leaned against her worktable. 

“I got Irisa as a kid, but she could feed and wipe herself by then,” the ex-lawkeeper defended himself mildly. “School-age and up, I’m your man.”

“Ugh.”

“You’re the doctor. You took care of all the babies in Defiance!”

“No, I didn’t. Half the time the mothers chose home births with the midwives of their particular race. I was only called in if things took a wrong turn. And even after that, I only did the check ups and the sick visits. Your baby is this heavy and this long. Is that good? I don’t know, but they seem fine to me.”

“Doc-”

“Yes, I know, I know more than that. But I’ve never raised one before! How do human babies say they need food?”

“They cry.”

“And if they soil themselves?”

“They cry.”

“If they want to be held or interacted with?”

“Typically, they cry.”

“And how is one to decipher which of these things the baby wants when they do the same thing?”

“Oh, and Indogene children are different, are they?”

“Yes, Nolan, they are. When born, an Indogene child is able to eat a milk and protein slurry as opposed just liquid milk. Which is a problem, because I don’t have a sample of human milk and so replicating what our child may be able to digest is proving rather difficult. And since you’re a male, I can’t even stimulate your milk-ducts to...”

“To what?” Suspicious.

“Do human males have milk ducts?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Let’s go to the medical bay for a minute.”

“Why?” Suspicious.

“I have an idea.”

A few hours later. 

“If you ever tell anyone about this...” Nolan warned from where he lay on the bed.

“I already took a picture for Becca,” Meh replied with a slight smile. The device was one she had pieced together a week after Nolan’s request. “After all, she should know how hard her father worked to provide her first few meals.”

“This is a one time thing, right?”

“For collecting the sample, yes,” the doctor agreed as she attached the suction cup to his chest. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means nipples are apparently sensitive on you humans, and it's entirely possible you may...leak for a few days while hormone levels return to normal in your body.”

“You gotta be chupping kidding me.”

“Sorry. You’ve got the same basic equipment in your chest as a female, though, and enough prolactin in your system plus a certain amount of stimulation should release a small amount of what is generally known as breastmilk. Once I have a sample, I can simulate more. Or try to. It shouldn’t be necessary to do this again. Probably.”

“The things I do for my girls. Have you checked on Becca today?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Steady heartbeat, very active, and it looks like everything is in the right place.”

“Are her insides more human or indogene?”

“I’m not sure yet. Its hard to tell what does what while she’s still forming in her little sac.”

“I hope she has your brains.”

“Me too.” Smirking.

“Ha ha. What else do you hope for her?” Wincing as Yewll increases the suction pressure. “Easy there, I want those still attached when this is done.”

“Please, we are still well within the limits of human tissue. Actual breastfeeding mothers probably put up with something similar every day for an hour or so at a time.”

“I knew there was a reason God didn’t give me breasts.”

“There’s a question I should ask: do you believe in the human God?”

“Kind of, I guess. Why?”

“Are you going to insist on teaching our daughter about him and his ‘mysterious ways’?”

“Oh, that’s right. Indogene’s don’t believe in gods.”

“A little hard to when we’re able to strip away the mysteries of life so easily.”

“Huh. Well, how about this. I won’t bring it up until we get back to Earth. How old she is when that happens will probably depend on how the conversation goes.”

“That’s fair.”

“Y’know, Amanda goes to church sometimes. There’s a small one in the town.”

“I know. It uses the school house for its services. I give vaccinations that boosters there every year.”

“Right.” Clearing his throat, trying to ignore the pain on his chest. “Being lenient towards our daughter checking out the church might win you points with a certain blonde mayor.”

“I don’t need your help stealing Amanda from you.”

“Hm.” Not wanting to look down. “Please tell me we’re done.”

“Oh, we were done five minutes ago. I just let you keep going for giggles and shtakos.”

“Are you chupping kidding?!” Yanking the suction cup off, and groaning afterward. “Ah, shtako that hurts-! Why?!”

“Stop calling me sassy pants.”

“You’re an ass sometimes, Meh.”

“Yeah, well so are you. Guess we’re a match made in hell.”

“Ha-! Ahhh....”

“The good news is, I got a sample. I’m off to my lab to try and replicate it. Need anything?”

“Not from you, buttercup.”

“I have a name, you could try using it.”

“Nah, this is more fun.”

“I’ll leave it on longer next time.”

“There won’t be a next time!”

“There will be if the baby needs it!”

“That’s what you chupping think!”

“Stop yelling, you’ll disturb Becca!”

“You’re yelling too! And you said she can’t hear us!”

“Hey, you do actually listen to me!”

“Always, buttercup!”

Nolan could swear he heard Meh laughing as she continued to walk to her lab. For his part, he rolled on his side and tried to pretend his nipples weren’t on fire. His eyes fell on the pod, nestled in the incubator, and smiled. 

Yeah, he would do it again if Becca needed it. But there was no need to tell Meh that. 

The birth was surprisingly calm.

“Hey cowboy,” Meh said as she ambled up to the pilot’s seat one morning. “I just checked in on Becca. I think its time.”

“What?” he asked, looking up from the viewscreen in surprise. “But I....I thought we had longer.”

“According to my scans, things look fully developed,” the Doctor replied with a shrug. “I’ve assisted with a few Indogene births, and by our standards she’s ready. Hopefully, her human side is too.”

“How long has it been?”

“Five months, give or take a few days.”

“That’s really early for a human baby. Most don’t make it that young.”

“I know. But...I still think its time. And if I’m wrong, we might be able to slip her into a larger pod to continue to grow for another month or two.”

“Ok. Let’s do this.”

Meh has everything laid out in the medical lab. She puts the pod in the table and opens it carefully. The sack is removed, and a tiny incision made into the sack the infant resides in. She then slips her hand inside, and carefully maneuvers the child out. 

She’s beautiful. 

“She’s breathing,” Meh said as she put the child in Nolan’s arms and picked up her scanner. “Heart rate is steady...and it looks like her biology tends towards Indogene.

“Not her coloring, though,” Nolan observed, a wide smile on his face.

“No, not her coloring,” Meh agreed with a slight smile. 

The baby was (insert size and weight later). Her skin bore the hexagonal pattern of most indogene’s, but where theirs was generally white with a few shades of grey, hers was a gentle pink. Her ears were slightly more defined than her mothers, but her skull was as bald as a cue and perfectly smooth. 

“Oh, she’s going to be a heartbreaker,” the man said as he cradled the child and brought her up to his face. Slowly her eyes opened, and she gazed back at him with black eyes exactly like Meh’s. “Hi, gorgeous. I’m your daddy. And that cue ball over there is your mom.”

“He has a thing for nicknames,” Meh said to the infant, the same half-smile on her face as she finished up her work. “I suggest you resign yourself to them as I doubt you will be able to stop him from using them for some years.”

“Oh, Becca likes my nicknames. Right squirt?”

As though on cue, a stream of urine exited the child and landed on Nolan’s chest. They both stood there, frozen, until it ended just as abruptly as it came. 

“Now that is a deterrent I had not tried before,” Meh said, laughing as Nolan handed her the baby and reached for a towel. “Well aimed, young one. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The next few days were idle for their usual pace of things. But neither could seem to stand to be far away from the baby for very long. 

“She’s just sleeping,” Nolan said as they stared down at the small bundle between them on the bed. “I could...go drive the ship for awhile. Or go do my usual walks. She usually sleeps for a few hours, right?”

“Yes, so far that is true,” Meh replied from her side, resting her head on her knees. “And the drones would tell us if she cried. Or even moved. I could even set up a video feed to watch her sleep while I’m...doing something else.”

“Yeah, you could.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Neither do I.”

The charm didn’t last long.

“It’s your turn,” Meh mumbled as Becca began to cry.

“Is it?” Nolan replied, sitting up slowly. “I thought...”

“You’ve been asleep three hours. I was up twice with her during that time. It’s your turn.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m up.” 

There were advantages to living on a sentient spacecraft. Nolan ordered a warm bottle from one drone, and sent another to find one of the pacifier’s Doc had created. A third was dispatched to be sure there were clothes for changing the little one’s nappies, just in case. By the time he and his wailing package were at the rocking chair (which he’d insisted on creating himself) all three were ready and waiting. The bottle was tried, and accepted, and the other sent to standby in case things changed. He set the first one to emit a low beep if he drifted off, and settled in to watch his squirming child.

Becca was more than double the size she had been born at less than two months old. She was a bit smaller than the average indogene would be, he was surprised to learn. They grew the equivalent of three years in one when compared to humans. Her solid warmth against his chest, though, as he helped her hold her bottle was still amazing to him. She ate more than a human child would, and the doctor theorized that her human components were struggling to keep up with the indogene growth. She certainly wailed like a human child, though. 

“Well, at least we know you’ve got a good set of pipes,” he murmured as she squaked angrily at the nipple slipping out of her mouth. A little Johnny Cash sung under his breath eased her, though, and before he knew it the bottle was empty and it was time to burp. 

Unfortunately, she spit up like a human baby too. Thankfully, they had drones. Nolan changed his shirt for a clean on, and tossed her blanket with it for the mechanical helpers to deal with. Back to bed they went, and his eyes closed gratefully in the near-dark of their shared space. 

It wasn’t nearly long enough before he felt a familiar nudge in his ribs.

Meh didn’t speak, ‘do not wake the baby’ having become a sort of mantra between them. Still, he patted her foot to let her know he got the message, and she headed for the bathing chamber. 

Despite the distraction of Becca, there was still work to be done. It took awhile to find any sort of balance between baby and ship, but slowly things began to get back on track. 

Meh designed a walker that levitated behind whichever one of them was in charge of the baby at that time. It could be ‘docked’ in one spot, but if the person in charge wandered too far away the drones would remind them of their charge. 

Nolan spent his time with Becca telling her stories. Of her sister back on Earth, of the city of Defiance and many of the people who lived there. Of his home as a child, and of his parents. Of the trip they were on, and why it wasn important. 

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” he said as he piloted them through the stars, his child watching silently as worlds and galaxies streaked by. “Even them. Even me.”

Meh spent her time talking to the child as well, but whatever she was saying it was lost on her companion.

“I don’t know that language,” he finally admitted one night as they both sat to eat at the same time for the first time in weeks. “What is it?”

“Indogenese,” she replied smugly. “Very difficult to learn for even the other Votan races.”

“Teach me.”

“Why? You have shtako for brains.”

“Because, if she’s half as smart as you she’s going to pick it up like that.” Snapping his fingers. “And I don’t want to wonder if our kid’s mom is insulting me in front of my face all the time and I just don’t know it.”

Meh looked just a bit abashed.

“It’s only sometimes,” she admitted sheepishly. “Most of the time I’m telling her about my side of the family.”

“You have family?”

“Yes, I have family. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because you never mention them or go see them or...or do anything any normal family does together.”

“Normal is a very relative term. For my people, not seeing each other is normal.”

“What family do you have, then?”

“Two sisters and a brother. Plus my father was still alive when we left earth.”

“What, are you just on bad terms with them, or...?”

“No. We spoke all the time through messages.”

“So, will you want to take her to see them when we get back?”

“No, of course not. Once she’s old enough, she’ll join in the message chain like everyone else. If our travels takes us to one of them, or vice versa, we’ll visit then.”

“So you aren’t close?”

“Yes, we are. We just aren’t stuck at the hip the way you human families seem to be. Or Castithan ones! Irathians are a little better. You can migrate through several clans over a lifetime, if you feel it necessary.”

“And indogenes?”

“Indogenes believe in becoming whatever it is you are meant to be. In...being who you are, no one else. And if that means leaving your family, that’s what you do. It happens to most of us. So we have the message chain to keep in touch. My brother is in Europe, alright? The odds of getting to see him without this spaceflight figured in are astronomically low. I still know his son was struggling with a rare form of a skin condition we can get in particularly damp environments. I sent him some suggestions, being the doctor in the family. I guess I probably won’t ever know how it turned out.”

“We’re going home.”

“Most days, I like to think so too. But I’m too tired for it today.”

“Why don’t you go sleep then? I’ve got squirt.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Then excuse me as I pass out for awhile.”

Yewll was an accomplished liar, even to herself. Lying Bec on her chest was just something she remembered her mother doing, tracing patterns on the back of her skull. It had nothing to do with the enjoyable, heavy warmth of flesh against flesh or that smiles and putting up with Nolan being Nolan was a little easier afterwards. She spoke to Be in indogene because the child needed to learn the language of her own, not because speaking it with the hope of hearing it in turn soon was a joy she had not had in years. The doctor took care of her child because that was what you did, no reason more.

Which is why when Nolan would catch her in an odd moment of unseen tenderness with Bec, he would watch and then quietly slip away again until later. 

Clothes were a problem from the beginning. Nolan had one set, the one he wore onto the ship, and Meh had the same. By the time baby Bec was abrewin’, a solution was found but it wasn't a great one.

The Omec’s wardrobe was raided for possible vestments that one or the other might tolerate. Anything leather was left untouched once Meh revealed that all of it came from their prey, which could very well be Castithan or Irathian. Armbands or neck rings were frequently made of favorite 'pets’. 

What was left was to neither of their tastes. Flowing robes with trailing sashes. Silks and heavy brocades. 

Unfortunately, they discovered to their dismay that neither could sew. 

“But I’ve seen you sew!” Nolan protested as Yewll threw the ruined fabric and knotted thread to the side with disgust. “You’ve reattached limbs and stitched up slices. Hell, I’ve got scars from your sewing!”

“Fabric is not flesh. Apparently.”

“There's gotta be another option.”

“There might be.” Unhappy.

“Then let's find it. What's the hold up?”

“... nothing.”

A few weeks later, the Indogene sent Nolan to one of the further reaches of the ship with instructions on what to find. 

“Why can't you go get it?” he asked as he prepared a few drones for heavy lifting and carry. “Or hell, just send the drones.”

“It's in a secure hold,” she said tersely. “I’ve put the access codes in your arm band. As for reasons, well... This is your sort of grunt work. I have things to do. I don't want to. Take your pick.”

Nolan wanted to argue, but something in the Indogene's posture made him pause. “Ok,” he finally said with a shrug. “Fine. And this is all you want?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll be back soon.”

“Don't get lost now.”

“Would you come find me?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

“Shtako for brains.”

He understood once he got down to the hold. You didn't have to be a scientist to see what the general theme of the room was. The Omec were conquerors, and this space was dedicated to conquering the Indogene. Silently he gathered the few crates Meh marked for use and left the rest undisturbed.

“You could have just told me,” he said when he came back to her workroom. “I would have understood.”

“I don't want to talk about it.”

The ex-lawkeeper let it go, and that night when Meh woke up yelling and clawing and her neck he didn't say a word. Just threw and arm around her and held on tight until the worst passed. Eventually she shoved him away, and muttered, “I’m fine.”

“Ok.”

The crates took a few days to unpack and assemble their contents among everything else. Nolan came to Meh’s workroom when summoned, and found a circular pad with a thin, twisted arch.

“What's this?” he asked as he strode around it curiously. It wasn’t until he glanced up that he noticed what she was wearing. “Hey, that’s-!”

“Almost exactly what I was sporting in Defiance, thank you for noticing.” Pleased smirk. “Now strip down and get on the platform.”

“What?” 

“The machine needs to take your measurements without anything in the way.”

“Did you do this? Naked, I mean?”

“Yes, but I happen to know how to work the controls without help. You don’t.” Glancing up at him. “Feeling shy, Nolan?”

Clearing his throat. “Not exactly.”

“What is it, then? Remember, I’ve seen you naked more than once, spread out on my operating table. So if you’re worried about attracting or disappointing me, the answer is neither.”

“It’s not that. It just feels...weird to just strip down like this.”

“Seriously? I know you have no issues getting naked for sex, the number of women you’ve chupped in Defiance is a pretty frequent topic of conversation. By the way, I know you almost chupped the psycho Omec chick, and incase you were wondering there are alarms in place on the sleeper pods to stop you from attempting a second go. Now hurry up and strip, I have things to do.”

Starting to undress with his back to her. “How do you know about that?”

“The psycho wouldn’t stop going on and on about you. She was quite upset that her father stopped her from ‘mounting’ her new pet.”

“Yeah...don’t worry, she’s pretty much cooled me on Omec’s for life.”

“Good.”

Down to his skivvies. “Do I have to...?”

“Yes. It requires exact measurements.” 

“Are you sure...?”  
“Yes. Believe me, of all the naked asses in the world I would actually enjoy staring at yours isn’t one of them. Hurry up.”

“Ok, ok...”

The scan only took a moment, and blessedly soon he was dressed again in his usual worn-out shirt and pants. 

“Now, come around back here and we’ll play dress-up,” Meh said as she pushed buttons on her screen with a small smile.

It was little strange to see a model of himself on the screen, complete with a few things he’d rather not have there.

“Boxers or briefs?” the doctor asked casually. 

“Briefs,” he coughed. “They’re, uh...”

“Don’t care,” Meh cut in mildly, hitting more buttons quickly. “Pants, right? With or without pockets?”

“With pockets.”

“Back and front? And belt loops?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“Got it. What sort of shirt?”

“Simple, long sleeved. No collar, and no buttons.”

“Easy. I like it. Anything else?”

“A new belt. And socks. And boots.”

“Yeah, about those...”

They were not the boots Nolan was used to, but it was hard to complain when for the first time in over a year he was wearing new clothes that actually fit. 

“They look a little...girly,” he complained as he tried them out with his new duds. The fabrics were a little off, and the colors all washed out shades of grey, but he was too pleased with the rest to complain about that. The boots are very thin, flexible material. Almost more like socks than boots.

“The matrix only allows for certain parameters right now,” Meh explained as she began to shut the machine down. “Reprograming it to include anything not already in the system will take time. A lot of time. The boots may not look tough, but they are.”

“How did you know this would be here?”

“This is how the Votanis Collective makes most of its clothes. Its technology the Indogene created under the Omec, and brought with them when they fled. I hoped that the Omec would still have one as a useful and simple way of clothing new slaves.”

“As if we needed further proof we can’t trust the purple bastards.”

“Speaking of which...I had an idea.”

This is where we get into Nolan and Meh creating an entire book or some such to gift to the Omec when they find their new home. The entire story of what happened. Told as truthfully and blamelessly as possible. Show snippets of the text, areas where both show their particular ‘flair’ in the story.

(This should probably go before the baby is born.)

After Yewll tries to keep her distance from the baby and fails: “Kids have a way of crawling into your chest, wrapping themselves around your heart and never letting go. Even in the times they want nothing to do with you, they still have a hold on your heart.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a parasite that does that too. If you don’t have it removed in time, you die a very bloody, painful death.”

“Yeah, well...I bet Becca’s way cuter than any parasite.”

“True.”

Eventually, they find a planet. It is sometime during their second year together, after the baby has been conceived and born. Meh comes up with the possibility of leaving the ship to travel to the planet alone, and building a smaller shuttlecraft to take back to Earth. It would be very small, and cramped, but it would mean possibly making it back in two or three years. Nolan considers, then says he can’t. He can’t leave without making sure the Omec have their second chance. Meh agrees, because she knew this was what he was going to say. They carry on. 

When Bec is a year old, she’s able to speak in mostly complete sentences and walk about on her own at times on the ship. As far as Meh can tell, her growth is a bit behind (she’s about the size of a two year old) but her intellectual abiltiies are right on track. Nolan spends most of this free time playing with her. There is a discussion at some point about whether or not they should make toys for her. The doc figures everything is a toy to a kid, and they program a drone to follow and watch her to be sure she does nothing dangerous. 

When Bec is three years old, she manages to change the drone’s programming so she can go see what’s down in the vault. Nolan goes looking for her, and finds the vault open. Calls Meh in a panic. They rush down below, weapons out. 

Bec was seated on the floor, staring up at an Omec child.

“Bec!” Nolan called, gun still out as he carefully looked around. “Did you open any of the pods, Bec? Did you wake anyone up?”

“No,” she replied calmly, turning towards him. “I thought I might do it wrong and hurt them. Can we wake him up?” She pointed to the child. “We could play and take lessons together.”

“Everything’s still secure,” Meh said, having checked the console nearest to them. “Holy Christmas, I thought my heart stopped there for a minute.”

“Can we?” Bec asked again, looking at the boy.

“Bec,” Nolan said as he sheathed his weapon and picked her up. “I think its time we told you about why we’re on this ship.”

“Does that mean we can’t wake the boy up?”

“No, Bec, we can’t,” Meh replied in a far gentler tone than she ever used with Nolan. “And I hope by the end of our story, you’ll understand why.”

Meh was the one to tell the story, seated at the table used for meals, as Nolan checked to be sure everything was secure and started dinner. He listened as the Indogene spoke, and was impressed. The doctor was short and to the point, and kept the story logical and simple while still covering a fairly impressive amount of material. 

She started with the birth of the Indegene, and then their escape. How the planet they fled to was not a refuge for very long before they had to flee again. About finding earth, and running into some trouble there.

“We won’t get into that tonight,” she said, “But suffice it to say, the Votans and the humans did not get along at first. But in some places, good places where people decided to be the best they could be instead of the worst, peace was achieved. Humans and Votans of all races lived side by side, getting along and making it work.”

“Like you and father,” Bec piped up, smiling.

“Yes, like he and I,” Meh agreed with a snort. “Getting along and making it work is exactly what we’re about. But then...the Omec found us.”

Nolan listened, waiting for the next part. It didn’t come. Finally he heard Bec say, “Mother? Mother, what’s wrong?”

Alarmed, the man set down the plates and hurried back around the corner to see Meh with her face pressed against the table, body trembling.

“Meh?” he asked, coming to herside. “Is it the array? What-”

“No,” she said, voice tight. “No, I thought I could...it’s been years. Years and years and years, but I can’t-” The words cut off and she shook all the harder.

“Father?” Bec, getting scared.

“It’s alright,” Nolan said as he gathered them both closed, the doctor stiff in his arms but not rejecting the embrace. “Bec, honey, its alright just...just give her a minute, ok?”

“I can’t do it.” Meh, against his shirt. “I can’t, I can’t, I-”

“It’s ok,” Nolan interrupted her, holding her all the tighter. “It is. Just...just relax, ok? Bec, can you get the plates? They’re ready on the counter.”

She hops up to go.

“You tell her.” As soon as she’s out of earshot, Meh pulls away. 

“Ok. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure I need to go lie down.”

“Ok, I got this.”

“Ok.” She leaves. Bec toddles in with all three plates.

“Where did she go?” Glancing around.

“To lay down for a bit.” Nolan said as he helped her get them to the table. “But before we eat, I want to finish the story.”

“Ok.”

“The Omec came,” he said, rubbing his face as he tried to remember it all. “There were only two, at first. A father and a daughter. There were some misunderstandings, and the daughter and your mother were hurt because of them. For a time they stayed with us in peace, but the daughter wasn’t content to live like that. She did something horrible to Meh, controlled her, and forced her to do some really bad things. Things that still really bother her, I think. Things that were so bad, that the only way she could see her way to making it up to everyone was to save them.”

“This ship, the one we’re on right now, is the Omec’s ship. And as you saw today, it isn’t just two of them. There’s thousands down there in the vault, asleep. When the daughter Omec killed her father and declared war on the Earth, we had no choice but to strike back. Meh devised this plan: to sneak aboard the ship while the daughter was busy elsewhere, and blow it up. To do this, she and I and two others came up here. What Meh didn’t tell us was that to blow up the ship she would have to plug herself directly into the ship’s computer, and stay there until the end. Otherwise it could be stopped.”

“She would die.”

“Yeah, squirt, she would die.”

“So why didn’t you blow up the ship.”

“Because your big sister has her father wrapped around her little finger,” Meh said from the doorway. Slowly she walked back to the table.

“You alright?” Nolan.

“No,” Meh admitted quietly. “But about this, I don’t think I ever will be.”

“Do you mean Irisa?”

“She does,” Nolan said with a slight smile. “Irisa was the one to notice the children on board. And she said, we can’t. We can’t kill children. And she was right. So your mother and I stayed behind, and diverting the explosion through the rear vents on the ship. The resulting force rocketed across space in a random direction and we’ve been traveling ever since, trying to find a home for the Omec. A new planet where they can start again and...maybe be better able to make peace if we meet somewhere down the line.”

“A second chance?”

“Yeah, a second chance. Because everyone needs one of those sometimes.” Looking up at Meh.

“Even if they don’t deserve it.” More to herself.

“But we can’t wake them up,” Nolan went on more seriously to his daughter. “I know he looks like a nice kid, but we can’t risk it. The Omec are incredibly dangerous, and as we saw before most of them are more interested in eating people than talking to them.”

“And even if we did happen to pick one who would talk first and bite later,” Meh added flatly, “There’s another risk. We still don’t fully control the ship.”

“Which is why you still have the plugs in the back of your neck and father changes the batteries in them every morning for you.”

“Yes, exactly. The ship is set to give top priority to the commands of anyone who is Omec. If we wake one up, and he or she decides they want the ship back, we won’t be able to stop them. Not without something I’d rather not ever do again, thank you very much.”

“By which she means it almost killed her,” Nolan said to Bec. “And to be honest, I’m in no rush to risk a second try either. So....we leave the Omec alone, asleep in their pods. Yes?”

“Yes.” Turning to Meh and hugging her fiercely. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“Me too, Bec.” Hugging her back. Bec’s stomach growls. “Let’s go eat. I think you might be growing again...”

“So,” Meh said unexpectedly as she appeared in the control room one morning. “I have news.”

“Ok,” Nolan replied, swiveling around his Captain’s chair to face her. “Shoot.”

“I think I found the Omec a planet.”

It took a moment for that to sink it. It had been three years already, with nothing in sight. 

“Wow,” he finally said, rubbing his hands over his face. “Where? And how far away?”

“Yeah, that’s not as good news,” she admitted with a shrug. “If the telemetry data is correct, its from one of the probe we launched nearly a year ago. We won’t have to backtrack, persay, to meet up with it but...”

“How far away?”

“Another three years, minimum. And that’s if the data I’m getting is correct. We could possibly sent out a few probes ahead of us, to see, but it could be another year before we know for sure. With only one ship and limited supplies, I wouldn’t want to do more than that just in case.”

“Makes sense. So...what else?”

“Hm?” Looking up.

“What else do you want to tell me?”

Sighing. “I...have an idea.”

“Ok.”

“In a few months, we would in a position where it would only be a two year journey back to Earth. Or in the general vicinity, at least. There’s a smaller spacecraft on this ship. I found it while looking for more probes.”

“I know what you’re talking about, we found it before.”

“What if we did this. We set the ship on course for the planet, put in programs to wake a few people up when it arrives, and we get in the smaller craft and leave.”

“That ship is tiny and all three of us would have to go into sleep pods to make it. There’s not enough room for any sort of food or water storage. Not to mention showers or waste management. We’d be entirely helpless if something went wrong that entire time.”

“But...we could be back on Earth in two years.”

“Well...what about just you and Bec going?”

“What?”

“I’ll get the Omec to their new world, then swing around and follow behind. That way if something went wrong, I can pick you up on the way. If not, I’ll see you when I get there.”

“No. No, no, no. First of all, you can’t control the ship without me.”

“We’d have a couple months to prepare, you could figure something out.”

“No. Your brain would not survive these inputs, end of discussion. Besides, even if you did would you be able to scan the planet properly and understand what you’re seeing? You still can’t read Omec.”

“Ok, then what do you suggest?”

“If you insist someone needs to stay with the ship, then I stay. You and Bec load up and shoot towards Earth. I’ll catch up eventually.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“First of all because I’m not waiting for you to get back to get things moving with Amanda, alright? And we have a deal. Second, if one of those Omec get out even accidentally you don’t stand a chance. And I don’t blame you for that, but it is the truth, alright?”

“Yes, it is.” Stiffly. “So what are we going to do?”

“We’ll all go to the planet,” Nolan as though it was the simplest thing in the world. “And then we’ll all go home.”

“...shtako, I was really hoping you’d want to leave.”

“I do. I miss my kiddo. I miss Defiance. I miss a certain blonde mayor we’re both really fond of. I still have to do this right, or I won’t be able to look the people who matter the most in the face.”

“Yeah...alright.”

There is an incident with an Omec getting loose. Nolan has to choose between saving Meh and Bec. Meh comes through and kills the Omec: proof mothers will do just about anything for their kids. 

Other than that one hiccup with an Omec escaping, the biggest thing that happens is Nolan finds a box of datachips. From Earth.

Nolan couldn’t remember a time before this jaunt through space that he hadn’t lived out of his pockets or perhaps a single duffle bag. The days he and Irisa would have a roller with room for a little more were always times of luxury. As a soldier, he had learned early on that if you wanted to guarantee you always had something with you, then you always had it in your pocket. Which is why Nolan found himself in space with a data chip full of music. 

Its how he’s had music to play all this time. Meh may complain, but she helped him convert it into something that could be played over the ship. And she does actually like some of it, she would just never tell him that. 

They’re getting ready to prepare to send the Omec to the planet’s surface, and he finds the crate in some of the head Omec’s old things. 

“Meh!” Nolan yelled as he entered their shared rooms with the crate in hand. “Look what I found!” 

Its a bunch of datachips, obviously purchased from Defiance. 

“What’s on them?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.”

Its old TV shows and movies.

“Oh, yes.”

“No. Bec is not watching this.”

“Yes she is. This is part of my culture, which means its part of hers.”

“It’ll rot her brain.”

“No it won’t. I grew up on this stuff, and I turned out fine.”

“Says the shtako for brains.”

Bec is still very curious, and ends up roving over huge sections of ship alone when her parents are busy. Which is how she finds the other pods.

“Meh,” she said as she followed the drone leading the way back to her mother. “Meh, I found something.”

“Something could be anything,” Meh replied, still bent over her work table as she soldered a computer chip into place. “What is this something you found.”

“Someone who looks more like us and not the purples.”

That makes Meh pause, and she removed her goggles to look down at Bec. “Where were you?”

“Uh...”

“Somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. Right. Lead the way, then, we can talk about whether or not you’re in trouble later.”

“If I get a choice, I’d rather write sentences than be grounded.”

“Zip it and move it, kid. We’ll discuss punishment after I’ve decided if its necessary.”

Bec sighs and obeys. 

The lab is one of T’evgins. He had several throughout the ship, doing different projects. Meh hasn’t messed with most of them, because she hasn’t had time to determine what they all are and what might be important. This lab is on her ‘to do’ list, but has been for three years. 

Inside, it looks similar to the medbay. She follows Bec in, and is taken right to a series of pods similar to the ones Bec was born from only a little bigger. There are ten against the wall, but only four are occupied. Its a castithan pair, boy and girl, and an irathian pair, boy and girl. The other pods, Meh surmises after a quick look around, was for a Liberata pair, an Indogene pair, and a Volge pair. Skimming the notes she can find left out T’evgin took great pleasure writing things out on paper, it seems) he was toying with possibly killing everyone, and starting all the races anew. He had some stock DNA, and would require more to maintain a healthy population, but breeding each reach for particular traits would be easier than plucking them up every so many years from the general population. They would be able to be rid of flaws and better the stock overall. 

Meh feels a little sick. The children (both sets are younger than Meh) were his first attempts at creating his own breeding stock. The project was set aside when power reserves grew low, and the pods were placed in hypersleep just like the others on the ship. 

Nolan. Over their com link.

Here.

I need you to come see something. Follow a drone to us.

Got it.

“Well,” Nolan said after she explained it all to him. “I guess there’s just one thing to say.” Turning to Bec. “You ready to be a big sister?”

“Can I?” Excited. 

“Hold your horses, cowboy guy. Bec, you aren’t in trouble but I do need to talk to your dad for a minute. Go get back to your school work.”

“But I already finished.”

“Then do tomorrow’s and the next day’s too. If we do what I think we’re going to do, you won’t have time to do it then.”

“I’m getting new brothers and sisters?” Still excited. 

“...maybe. Go.”

“What is it, buttercup? Its not like we don’t have room.” Waving around the vast space. “Hell, we could house a hundred kids and for feel squished.”

“Don’t tempt the universe, Nolan, I would go insane.” Sighing. “This is different than Bec’s birth, ok? These were grown from stock DNA. I don’t know if they’re copies or something the Omec cooked up himself. They have been in hypersleep for...years before they were ever born, so when they come out they’re going to be very fragile for awhile. We could set up near-perfect conditions, and there’s still a chance we’d lose all four.”

“What do you think their odds are?”

“I have no idea. And it would take me months to figure it out, trying to sort through his notes and figure out what exactly he did.”

“I don’t want to wait months.”

“To be honest, given where we are, months won’t make our odds any better. If there are flaws, I won’t know what they are until I get them to the medbay and out of their pods.”

“If something doesn’t work, can’t you just...grow them a new one? They’re Votans, right?”

“Yes, they’re Votans, but not artificial species. I could eventually grow, say, a replacement heart or lung, but it would take at least a few weeks. They probably wouldn’t survive that long.”

“...will they have better odds if they wait?”

“No. And if we, say, waited until we got back to earth their odds would be worse. This is the best environment possible short of a fully-staffed VC hospital/research lab to do this in.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“Ok.” Pausing. “I want Bec to help.”

“...might be hard on her, if we lose one or two. Or all four.”

“Yeah,” Meh agreed with a nod. “But I want her to see it. To see life. To know what its worth.”

“Ok.” 

They get to work.

Figure out the process, and how many survive (not a 100% success). Figure out names. Chance the rest of the story from here. 

They get to the planet, and now have to come up with a plan of what to do. Eventually, they transport a handful of Omec to the surface, and speak to them through holographs from the ship. They explain what happened, and promise to send the rest down. They relay what happened to T’evgin and his daughter, to what happened on Earth. In the end, they empty most of the ship to provide them some tools, medical supplies, and basic weapons. Some power stations and the like. They also leave them a library of collected works by the Votanis and humans. T’evgin had acquired quite the library of human literature, art, poetry and music before his death. They then leave in the knowledge of a job well done.

“So, five or six years, and we’re home.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think we have enough gas?” Nolan, teasing.

“Don’t even joke about that.”

About a year out on their way home, Nolan is driving. He comes too close to a nebula, and something in it causes a feedback loop in the ship’s computer. Which means in affects Meh. The indogene drops where she stands, and has to be carried to the medbay. She lays comatose for over a week, and when she comes to she has to rebuild several systems not only for herself but for the ship. Nolan helps her perform surgery on herself multiple times. 

After this, Bec begins to learn more about medicine and being a doctor. She has already mastered using a gun, and has decent aim. Nolan is very proud. 

Four years pass surprisingly quickly...and suddenly they’re home. They nearly overshoot it, in fact. 

“We’re back.”

“Yeah.”

“There’s just one problem.”

“What’s what?”

“What do we do with the ship?”

They decided to ‘scuttle her’, and hide her inside a wreckage. With Meh planning on removing her implants once they’re on the surface, the ship will be unreachable and unobtainable by anyone else. That’s all they care about. There are three pods left for them to travel down to earth in. The plan is to land together, but they know they might not. Bec has her orders to head towards Defiance if they get separated. She has her own weapons, and is ready to go. Both Nolan and Meh hug her before they get into their own pods.

“Alright, ladies. Let’s go home.”


End file.
